Exodus 2, Luke 5, Job 19, 1 Corinthians 6

Date	Version	Reading Plan
@February 19, 2024	ESV (2016)	M’Cheyne Plan 2024

Exodus 2

Exodus 2:23–25 (ESV) 23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

These verses are such a warming reminder of God’s faithfulness to His covenant promises and that He responds to our pleas. The “knew” of “God knew” is the same Hebrew word used in Gen. 4:1, where it says, “Now Adam knew Eve his wife”. He is with us, hears us and and knows all that we are going through.

Luke 5

Luke 5:5 (ESV) 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”

Leave it to Peter to demonstrate the broad spectrum of doubt and faith. His first reaction to Jesus’ instruction to let down their nets was to speak of their futile all-night efforts. But then he quickly turns a corner and, at the word of Jesus, he is willing let down the nets. It seems as if he cannot help but slip in a quick rejoinder prior to obedience. How often do we find ourselves doing the same thing. We try to justify disobedience by showing the unfruitfulness of previous attempts. We undermine God’s commands because we have not received the outcome we want. We fail to see past our own plan to the grandeur and superiority of His.

Job 19

Job 19:25–27 (ESV) 25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!

These words hit with a force I can hardly bear. Gripped by the guilt of my own sin but also a rejoicing that my Redeemer lives. It brings great comfort to know that there will be a day when I will see my Lord, a day that will mark the last sleepless night and last tear shed. It is a day I look on with eager anticipation, the first day of forever with Him.

1 Corinthians 6

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (ESV) 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The “such were some of you” is us. As with the church in Corinth, we are embroiled in the same sin that cuts us off from an inheritance of the kingdom of God. But praise be to God that He has so chosen to cleanse us by His blood, sanctify us with His Spirit, that we may be restored and adopted as sons of the Most High.

Carson on Exodus 2

The chapter ends by recording that “the Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham” (2:23–24). This does not mean that God had forgotten his covenant. We have already seen that God explicitly told Jacob to descend into Egypt and foretold that God would one day bring out the covenantal plan. The same God who sovereignly arranges these matters and solemnly predicts what he will do, chooses to bring about the fulfillment of these promises by personally interacting with his covenantal people in their distress, responding to their cry.

Carson rightly unpacks the importance of understanding that when it says that God “remembered his covenant” (Exod. 2:24), this does not mean that it had been forgotten. God knows all and forgets nothing. The remembering is more about God’s faithfulness, moving in ways that testify to His steadfast adherence to His promises.

Justin Houtz